Sao Paulo -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Brazil ¹ s Congress postponed a vote on Tuesday on a controversial forest code , which has pitted farmers and ranchers against environmentalists .

According to state-run Agencia Brasil , the vote was rescheduled for next Tuesday so the government can try to secure support for the current text .

Lawmakers are still sharply divided , with the rural lobby in Congress demanding more protection for farmers who have cleared land and environmentalists accusing the government of repealing landmark laws .

Over the past decade , Brazil has cracked down on clear-cutting , especially in the biodiverse Amazon rain forest , reducing the rate of deforestation by 80 % .

Environmentalists are concerned that some of those gains could be threatened if the new legislation is passed . The bill eases limits on deforestation and extends an amnesty to some developers who cut down trees illegally in the past .

Still , it is more eco-friendly than an earlier version of the bill that was supported by the rural lobby in Brazil ¹ s Congress .

The Amazon rain forest covers a huge area , roughly half as large as the United States , with about 60 % of it in Brazil .

It is estimated that nearly a fifth of the Brazilian forest has been lost since 1970 .

Initially cleared by loggers , much of it was turned into pastures and farmlands as Brazil went from being a food importer to a global agricultural powerhouse .

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Brazil ¹ s Congress postpones vote on controversial forest code for a week

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Rural lobby in Brazil 's Congress is demanding more protection for farmers

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Environmentalists are concerned ecological gains could be threatened

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Amazon rain forest is huge -- roughly half as large as the United States